This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Asa Conroy. Find them on Instagram at @asakayconroy. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
It’s nearly time to gather with our loved ones and eat far too much food. But what can we do to make it a little more exciting than just a regular dinner party? If you’re asking how to plan the Friendsgiving of a lifetime, I may have a few ideas for you. Don’t worry, they’re totally fun for all your guests and not at all childish. People tend to worry about that with theme parties even when everyone’s always looking for a way to zhuzh up their party planning. Here are some Friendsgiving themes for adults that you could use or could inspire you!
1. First Letter of Your Name
For this theme, guests are expected to dress up and/or bring a dish that begins with the same letter as your first name. A little bit of variety in case not everyone has the time or ability to dress up. Not to mention you can dress up or cook anything. Depending on your friend group you could have some fun combinations. Matt could dress up as a mattress and bring mashed potatoes while Sasha brings sushi dressed as Santa.
2. Color
This is another theme that could be both food and dress. Everyone gets assigned a color and then they must bring that color to the party. This could with their clothes, food, or both. Say you get red so you could bring red velvet cupcakes and red wine. Additionally, every guest/group could bring a simple decoration of their color. That could use some extra planning, but it could make for a great photo afterwards. Imagine all your friends in a beautiful array of colors. To turn that memory into a keepsake, consider creating quality photo books featuring all the vibrant moments from your color party—it’s a fun way to relive the celebration and share it with friends.
3. Cook-From-Your-Culture
They say that food is the best way to experience another culture. Each recipe is filled with history, traditions, values, and daily life. For a party that’s primarily about connecting over food, you could literally connect over food. This theme is a great way of learning more about your friends’ cultures. Each person can take a family recipe, or even just a general one, and all come together for a worldly meal. To enhance the connection, you could also include cultural dress, games, decorations, and more. Just to show how you’re all coming together.
4. College Major/Job
One of the broader themes, both in life and party-planning. For this theme, guests should dress up as or create a dish inspired by their major or job. If you are approaching this from the job angle you might already have your uniform ready which cuts down on dress up time. So you could be a nurse/nursing student wearing your (hopefully clean) scrubs and prepare some shots that look like…well shots. Or a librarian/English student making book cookies. But this assignment might be too easy for our chefs out there.
5. “Last Meal”
Asking someone what their last meal on death row would be is everyone’s favorite morbid party question. So why not turn it into a party? Every guest brings their last meal, with enough to share. That way everyone can enjoy their last meals together! If you want a party that will go out with a bang, this might be the one for you. I mean, how else can you feel more connected with your friends than eating each other’s last meals?
6. Time Period
Another broad one for both dress code and food preparation. This could go one of two ways. Every guest gets their own time period, or you all choose one. Either way, you’ll dress up and prepare a dish that matches your time period. This can be decades or centuries. So, 80s or 1800s. With the wider periods, you could divide into different eras or cultures during the time. Which could mean Lewis and Clark sitting next to a Bridgerton (if we’re including fictional regents that is).
7. Holidays
Thanksgiving is often overlooked as a holiday. It’s stuck between some of everyone’s favorites, but what if Friendsgiving struck back? We all know there’s a holiday power struggle, the only solution is to make it into a theme. Okay ‘solution’ may not be the right word, but it’s fun. Everyone gets their own holiday, whether it’s a major one or just a random obscure one, and then you represent your holiday. Halloween and Valentine’s Day can handle the dessert while Talk Like a Pirate Day and World Compliment Day can handle the conversation.
8. Thanksgiving
Look I know some people turn to Friendsgiving to get away from Thanksgiving, but it still could make a good theme. Especially because it’s one you don’t have to change to much for. If you were already planning on making turkey, stuffing, and an apple pie, keep them coming. But let’s add a little twist. Everyone dresses up as a “regular Thanksgiving with your family.” We know we’ve found our family within our friends, so let’s make that too real. Assign “family” roles to your friends and become that for the day. Someone can be your grumpy grandpa, the wine mom, or the emo cousin. Have fun with the family you chose.
9. First (Fictional) Crush
This one is better done in secret, that is if you can already keep it a secret. Pretty much everyone remembers their first crush from when they were a kid. Even if that person was fake. This could include real people, but that could get into some insulting territory if it ended badly. Hopefully, for this theme everyone can get together dressed as their first crushes and have a good time. There’s not much to do with food in this theme, but you could always make something based on them or just reminds you of them. Push comes to shove you could just take a picture of Zuko on a toothpick and stick him in a turkey.
10. Entertainment/Favorite Media
Can tie in with the previous theme but can extend beyond that. Another one that can go a few ways. You could all pick one media (so book, game, movie, tv, music) and go from there or you could all go as your favorites. This one can be a bit more food friendly than some of the other dress up ones because you could make food from/based on that piece of media or inspired by it. Plenty of franchises have started putting out cookbooks based on their properties. Crack open one of those and you won’t even have to think about it. Again, you could have everyone together or you could have Chappell Roan eating Scooby Snacks with Sephiroth and Ponyo.
11. Board Night
Again, maybe more food themed than dress themed, but a fun one anyway. For this theme guests should bring food or drinks that can be served on a board (or a tray, they’re basically boards anyway). You could have charcuterie boards with different meats, cheeses, fruits, or desserts. Some have made pizza boards cause a Sicilian would be perfect for this. Serving drinks on boards. And even play some board games so your guests aren’t board. If you feel like dressing up, you can combine this with colors for a Clue/Cluedo theme.
12. F.R.I.E.N.D.Sgiving
Yes, this technically could go under Entertainment/Media, but it’s in the name. It’s Friendsgiving! A perfect combination of celebrating the day, media, friendship, and the 90s. Everyone can dress up as their favorite (or assigned) Friends character. You could decorate based on Monica’s apartment/Central Perk or moments in the show like Phoebe’s cups and ice decorations. Although, it’s up to you whether you want to try Rachel’s trifle. Additionally, you could throw in some Friends trivia for the major fans out there or friends trivia based on major fans of your real friendships.
13. Different Theme for Everyone
Everyone gets assigned a theme. Ideally, these themes should be kept secret from one another, so everyone surprises each other when they arrive. You, as the host, would deal out a theme to every guest. From there the guest should dress and cook (or get) the part. A black-tie guest brings a formal meal, a pajama party guest brings cozy desserts or movies, and someone named Matt could bring the mashed potatoes. It’ll be a mismatch, but a fun one.
Which Theme Is For You (And Your Friends)
Hopefully, this list helped your find the best theme for your Friendsgiving party. Not every theme suits every friend group, and that’s totally fine. You just need to find one concept that can work for a whole bunch of people. No pressure, right? Anyway, themed parties don’t need to be just for kids. Except if you want them to be a little childish then throw your Spider-Man or princess themed parties. Those could be Friendsgiving themes for adults too. But if you disagree, I’ll direct you back to the other 13 ideas. Happy Friendsgiving!
What do you think of these Friendsgiving themes for adults? Wanna use one for your party? Let us know in the comment section below!
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